Susurrations
by froldgapp
Summary: When Keith begins to act strangely, Lance gathers the team to figure out what's wrong. (Or, Keith's 'I'm part Alien' is showing and it's not cute.)


Lance is pretending to clean the walls when he hears the soft pad of bare feet from around the corner. He should have finished this job hours ago, but – as usual – he left it to the last minute and is now stuck with alien-cleaning agent in his nose and hands dry from chemicals long after everyone has gone to bed. He knows it's not Coran approaching, because the man is literally always in uniform, but even so, he begins buffering in earnest. The footsteps draw nearer. Lance begins whistling. Classic work mode, he thinks.

From the corner of his eye, he sees the shadow drift up the wall to his left before a figure in a dark tee and boxers rounds the corner.

'Keith? Hey…,' Lance says, pausing as he watches the now-Black Paladin totter towards him unsteadily. 'What are you doing u–?'

Keith passes him without a glance. He doesn't make a sound. And it's only in his wake that Lance feels the hair along his arms stand on end, skin textured with goosebumps.

'Keith?' he asks again, but the other paladin is nearly at the end of the corridor now, walking with that strange, hobbled gait.

Dropping his cloth, Lance jogs along behind the other paladin, sniffing his fingers and sputtering at the sharp odour of the cleaner.

'You going for a little sleepwalk, bud? Keith? Mullet?'

He reaches Keith just as he turns the corner and taps him on the arm. Keith stops so abruptly Lance stumbles into him and has to right himself by grabbing hold of his shoulders. 'Woah, dude, you–' He swallows. 'Woah.'

If his hair was standing on end before, now he feels like it might float away into the air vents. Something is very, very wrong with the Red – er – Black Paladin.

'Keith?' he whispers, readjusting his fingers on Keith's bony shoulders.

He feels a shudder pass through his teammate, core deep. Keith's eyes cant up to him, half-lidded and dull. Somewhere – somewhere – there seems to be a flicker of knowing in those uncanny violet eyes, but in the next moment, Keith steps back out of Lance's grasp and continues towards the elevators.

'What the quiznak?'

OoO

It doesn't take Lance long to rouse the others. Guys! Guys! Wake up! Something's wrong with Keith! I think his mullet's finally eaten his brain!

The paladins emerge from their rooms, sleepy-eyed but otherwise alert.

Maybe it's the stress of moving over to Black.

Maybe it's the stress of losing – you know – of Shiro.

Hey, hey… you guys, you don't think it's like… the Galra calling? Like 'Keithy come home!'

The theories continue as the three paladins follow Keith's path, Katie's latest bot leading the way.

Keith's in his boxers, how the Hell are you tracing him?

His tag, duh.

You tagged us!?

Allura intercepts them at the elevator in full armour. 'The system picked up a strange energy from Black's hangar,' she says. 'Keith's down there. Something… is happening.'

'I'll say,' Lance quips as the elevator door opens with a quiet swoosh!

The descent is quieter with Allura around. Although they're all close by this stage, the Princess's regal disposition tends to put a damper on the trio's usual banter.

They emerge on the hangar floor to see Keith standing at the door, sleepily prodding at the entry panel. Everything is off. Despite the newly minted Black Paladin's usually – in Lance's humble opinion – dishevelled appearance, his movement is all poise, all grace. Like a ballet dancer thrust into the world's worst fashion. Standing in front of the hangar door now, Keith is hunch-backed, limbs angled awkwardly and neck thrust forward like a prowling animal. The panel blinks red three times. Keith wavers on his feet: two steps to the right, and one back. His other arm swings uselessly by his side.

'Keith, buddy?' Hunk asks, his voice thick with worry.

Utterly oblivious to his team, Keith lifts his right arm heavily and awkwardly prods at the panel again. Once more, it blinks red and quiets.

'What do we do?' asks Lance, ghosting near Keith. 'It's like he's sleepwalking, but…' He pokes one slack cheek, then dances back in case Keith isn't as asleep as he thinks. Keith thoroughly ignores him however, and simply raises his hand to gain entry again.

'Why can't he get in?' asks Pidge, also drawing closer. She makes a small, 'Woah!' sound as she too feels the energy rolling off her teammate.

'I began locking down the hangars when not in use after Ulaz's breach,' Allura answers. She shivers and folds her arms. 'I don't know what to do… His whole energy feels strange, but… familiar. I can't explain it. Have you tried waking him, Lance?'

'You mean other than poke him in the face? Nope.'

'Why don't we open the door?'

All eyes turn on Pidge. Lance's mouth falls open as his palms drop to his knees. 'What?'

'Let's see what he does,' she shrugs. 'There's three of us, plus Allura. We can just sit on him if he tries anything. Keith is like… the second smallest one here.'

'Yeah, small like a scorpion maybe. Small like a… like a…' Hunk struggles.

'Like a super dangerous spider,' Lance provides.

Allura holds up her hand and sighs. 'Pidge is right. We won't know what he's looking for unless we give him some slack.' She strides towards the door, but hesitates before moving Keith's hand out of the way. As their fingers are about to make contact, an honest-to-goodness electric spark flies between them. Everyone jumps apart from Keith, who continues his silent, dead-eyed stare at the door. Allura presses her palm to the panel. It blinks green and the door slides open.

Keith's mouth turns down momentarily – the first expression since Lance spotted him – and in the next second his face slackens again as he stumbles into the hangar.

'Maybe he's a zombie,' Hunk whispers. Pidge and Lance nod slowly.

'If the shoe fits,' Lance says, his stomach rolling.

The hangar lights come on by degree with loud, mechanical thunks. By the time they're at full brightness, Keith and his concerned entourage are standing in front of Black's enormous maw. She is utterly still, lying with her face tucked between her massive paws. She never lay like that when Shiro was around. She always sat proud and waiting. 'She looks sad,' Lance realises.

A strange sound fills the space, lost at first amongst the team's hypothesising. A susurration, punctuated by heavy breathing. It's Keith. He raises both hands and trips forward until both palms are pressed against Black's paw.

'Totally a zombie,' Hunk mutters. Once again, Pidge and Lance nod their assent. Then suddenly – so suddenly the others startle – Pidge spins, eye alight.

'Oh my God!' she yells, her voice bouncing off the hangar walls. 'You don't think this is the 'energy' Keith was talking about? The one that led him to the Blue Lion? The one telling him to search?'

Lance throws his hands in the air. 'Aw, what!? Ace pilot and freaky psychic. Why does the universe have such a boner for Keith!?'

Pidge turns her mouth down and mutters, 'I'm not sure I would consider militaristic alien ancestry and brainless somnambulation good fortune.' She turned to Allura. 'Allura, do you think it's possible? Back on Earth, Keith talked about the desert calling to him; it's how he found Blue.'

Allura's eyes widen, and she slowly flexes the fingers of the hand that touched Keith's. 'Per– perhaps?' She frowns, brow deepening. 'Yes, yes perhaps.'

Keith's frantic whispering is getting louder; words spilling over each other. His breathing is heavier. Beneath his t-shirt, his thin chest heaves like a dying bird's. Sweat has built around his collarbone and under his pits. His long hair is pasted to his neck.

Lance leans in, ear close to Keith's mouth.

'What's he saying?' asks Hunk, hands wringing.

Lance closes his eyes and swallows. When he opens them again, three glassy sets of eyes stare at him. 'He's saying…' He pauses. Sighs. 'He's saying, "Where is he?"'

oOoOo

Get at me on tumblr / froldgapp


End file.
